Our History

The formation of ANKA goes back to the unification of two different organizations representing and serving Nepali residents in and around Lexington; Kentucky Nepali Society (KNS) est. 2004 and Forum of Nepalese in America (FONA) est. 2008. In recent times, people made efforts to unify the two and after careful planning and discussions, the two organizations dissolved and a unified ANKA was formed in 2019. The people who took part in this unification process are mentioned below as a way of remembrance.

Executive Body of KNS at the time of Unification

  • President: Mohani Dumre

  • Vice president: Ek Narayan Subedi

  • Vice President: Janardan Shah

  • Secretary: Buddha Maharajan

  • Joint Secretary: Tilak Shrestha

  • Treasurer: Bharat Sharma

  • Active Members:

    • Amarsha Gimire

    • Raju Bhandari

    • Post Raj Pokharel

    • Amrit Munakarmi

    • Ishan Agrawal

    • Siri Gurung

    • Bishnu Dumre

    • Murari Guragain

    • Karishma Shrestha

    • Janardan Rijal

Executive board of FONA, at the time of Unification

  • Chair: Ram Prashad Khanal

  • Vice Chair: Babu Ram Adhikari

  • Second vice Chair: Nabin Tiwari

  • Secretary: Prakash Pandey

  • Joint Secretary: Rekha Joshi

  • Secretary: Shanker KC

  • Director of Programming: Bishnu Jhapali

  • Director on Membership: Thirlal Aryal

  • Executive Member: Chudamani Awasthi

  • Executive Member: Nabin pant

  • Executive Member: Raj Lama

  • Executive Member: Shyam Parajuli

  • Executive Member: Diwakar Bhatta

  • Executive Member: Mohan Budathoki

  • Executive Member: Kuber Dhungana

  • IT Coordinator: Yaswanta Thakur

  • Activity Program Coordinator: Shashi Rai

  • Women Program Coordinator: Srijana Marashini

  • Arts and Culture Coordinator: Shradha Lamichhane

  • Education Coordinator: Damaru Paudel

  • Sports and Youth Coordinator: Umesh Kafle

  • Audio/Journalism Coordinator: Rajan Kandel

  • Legal Advisor: Adrienne Godfrey Thakur

  • Advisors: Laxmi Khadka

  • Advisors: Bhanu Gyawali

  • Advisors: Ramchandra Joshi

By-Laws Committee Members

  • Rajendra Khatiwoda

  • Babu Ram Adhikari

  • Sushil Sharma

  • Chandra Khanal

  • Buddhi Gyawali

  • Nabin Tiwari

Interim Committee Members (23) / Initial Board of Directors (2018)

  • Parshu R. Acharya

  • Ek Narayan Subedi

  • Nabin K. Tiwari

  • Mohani L. Dumre

  • Ram Prasad Khanal

  • Raj Khatiwada

  • Sashi C. Adhikari

  • Luxmi Dangol

  • Dilu R. Parajuli

  • Post Raj Pokharel

  • Laxmi N. Khadka

  • Janardan Rijal

  • Chandra P. Khanal

  • Amrit Munakarmai

  • Hari Adhikari

  • Mukti Madan Shrestha

  • Yashwant K. Thakur

  • Madhav Adhikari

  • Sudhir Ojha

  • Bishnu Dumre

  • Damaru Poudel

  • Babu Ram Adhikari

  • Raju Timilsina

Negotiation Committee during Unification Process

  • FONA

    • Ram Prasad Khanal

    • Babu Ram Adhikari

    • Sashi Chandra Adhikari

    • Hari Adhikari

    • Parshu Acharya

    • Prakash Pandey

  • KNS

    • Mohani Dumre

    • Janardan Shah/Ek Narayan Subedi

    • Buddha Ratna Maharjan

    • Rajendra Khatiwada

    • Bharat Sharma

    • Madhav Adhikari